Emails to Chinese dancers allegedly threatened Australian PM
The security concern at the Australian prime minister’s residence this week stemmed from a bomb threat against an anti-Beijing Chinese dance group, the hosts of the protest said on Friday.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was forced to vacate his official Canberra residence, The Lodge, on Tuesday due to an unspecified “alleged security incident”.
Police said at the time that they found nothing suspicious during a search and declared there was no threat to the public, without saying what led to the incident.
“We have presented this to national security agencies, including the police,” Lucy Zhao, president of the Falun Dafa Association of Australia and host of the Shen Yun dance troupe, told AFP.
“We have to take this seriously.”
Two days ago, an email threat was sent seeking to stop a New York-based dance group affiliated with the Falun Gong spiritual movement, also known as Falun Dafa, from performing in Australia.
A copy of the Chinese-language email sent to AFP said a “large amount of nitroglycerin explosive” had been placed at the prime minister’s residence.
“If the Shen Yun demonstration still goes ahead, the prime minister’s residence will be reduced to a bloody ruin,” the email warned.
Zhao accused the Chinese Communist Party of trying to stop Shen Yun’s performances internationally, including sending threats.
China banned Falun Gong, calling it an “evil cult” in 1999 after 10,000 members demonstrated peacefully in front of a government building in Beijing.
A foreign ministry spokesman in Beijing told reporters this week that he was not aware of the facts behind the security incident.
“China has always been against various acts of violence,” the spokesman said.
“It is worth noting that the so-called Shen Yun demonstrations are not any normal cultural activity, but a political tool used by the Falun Gong organization to spread cult knowledge and accumulate wealth.”
Falun Gong, founded in 1992, claims to have nearly 100 million followers and is subject to “persistent persecution” in China, according to a January 2024 European Parliament resolution.
Although banned in China, it has found a global audience with Shen Yun performances around the world, generating US$46 million in revenue in 2022 alone, according to investigative news site ProPublica.
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